Carol Joyner, National Advisory Board Member

Every day, working people are forced to choose between their jobs and their families. Take the bus driver who has to get his kids to child care by 5 a.m. because his shift starts at 5:30 a.m.; the home health aide who makes just above minimum wage and can’t work full time because she can’t afford the child care required for her to work; or the secretary who can’t afford to take unpaid family leave to care for her seriously ill parent.

Current workplace practices and public policies make it extremely difficult for working people who need time and resources to care for their families. New work/family policies – policies like child and elder care benefits and subsidies, flexible work schedules, family leave, leave to care for a sick child, and the like – would make a world of difference. Achieving these new policies, however, requires organized constituencies advocating for change and public will.

Unions are committed partners in the push for such change. In both individual workplaces and the public policy arena, unions represent a large constituency of working families. In fact, the nation’s nearly 14 million unionized workers represent more working families than any other organization in the United States. They are, therefore, an important voice in the movement to bring America’s family agenda in line with those of most other industrialized nations. We have a long way to go to build the infrastructure that ultimately will improve and expand the child care system, address the growing issue of elder care, win paid family leave and flexible work schedules for all American families.

Problems Faced By Working Families Today

Working families today are facing several major problems: (1) a lack of quality, affordable child care services; (2) the absence of workplace policies supportive of parenting and caregiving, (3) no paid family leave making this important policy unavailable to many who need it; and (4) inflexible work schedules that fail to balance the needs of industries with those dictated by family life.

Balancing Work and Family – A Union Issue

Since the early days of the U.S. labor movement, family and children’s issues have been union issues. As Dennis Rivera, President, 1199 National Health and Human Service Employees Union, SEIU points out, issues such as child care cannot be isolated from other issues important to labor unions. “What’s important,” he states, “is (that) the labor movement be a source of meaningful improvement in people’s lives.” The labor movement has to fight for progressive social policies and also provide direct help and assistance to working people.

Labor Strategies

Labor has generally used three main strategies in the struggle for better conditions for working families: collective bargaining, legislation and organizing. Bargaining successes related to the direct provision of child and elder care include contracts providing for child and elder care funds, on-site and near-site child care centers, extended hours child care, and sick and emergency care. Unions also have had success in bargaining for generous family leave and alternative work schedule policies. Some examples of union advances on family leave policies include: contracts providing for paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave; contracts allowing members to use their sick time to care for sick children; and short term leave giving members flexibility to accompany children to appointments or attend school events. Alternative work schedules won in union contracts include: flextime; compressed work weeks; telecommuting; and part-time return to work schedules for new parents after the birth or adoption of a child.

Today, due to the current economic growth and its impact on the workplace, limiting mandatory overtime has become a main focus of bargaining for many big unions. The Communication Workers of America (CWA) successfully negotiated weekly overtime limits of 7 ½ and 8 hours, depending on the job classification in their settlement with Verizon Communications. Any voluntary overtime counts towards that limit. The United Auto Workers (UAW) and the California Nurses Association (CNA) have also won similar contract provisions limiting overtime.

Collective Bargaining to Offer Family -Friendly Provisions

Unions use collective bargaining to address a number of the needs of working families. Such needs include: child care services; flexible or alternative work schedules which allow for time to be with families on a regular basis; and paid family leave allowing working people to take time off after the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child, or to care for a sick relative.

No systematic study has yet been done which documents the number of union contracts with work/ family provisions or the types of provisions covered in such contracts. The most comprehensive study done to date shows that, as of 1998, at least 1.6 million workers were covered by some type of child care benefit through their union contracts. An earlier, less comprehensive study, found over 860,000 workers receiving some kind of child care benefit. Both studies define child care provisions in a somewhat narrow sense. They do not, for example, count parental leave as a child care provision. Both studies also draw from only a portion of union contracts in the U.S. Hence, they undercount both the number of contracts with such provisions and the number of workers receiving child care benefits through such contracts.

A good source of data on union-won, family-friendly provisions is the “Best Contracts” database of the Labor Project for Working Families. This database catalogues union contracts in the areas of paid and unpaid family leave, short-term leave, leave to care for sick children, child care (sick, emergency, off-hours care), elder care and flexible work schedules. It currently includes contract language from over 300 bargaining agreements. The following cases, drawn from this “Best Contracts” database, profile several examples of work/ family programs, which were collectively bargained.

Child Care

There are many examples in Labor/Management contract language that provides for childcare assistance. One example is the 1199 Health and Human Services Employees Union, SEIU (1199). In 1989, when 1199, was preparing for contract negotiations they faced a number of critical issues. In meetings and conversations with union leaders, many 1199 members had been complaining about the lack of services for child care in their communities due to under-funding of the public school system and crumbling parochial schools. Also, the union was constantly dealing with workers for whom they had to file grievances to defend them for arriving late to work, leaving early, or otherwise responding to household issues. A union survey found that a significant percent of union members identified child care as a priority for themselves and their families and in 1989, the union bargained for an employer-paid child care trust fund.

Today, employers from over 400 institutions contribute a certain percent of their gross payroll to the 1199/Employer Child Care Fund, which is administered by a labor-management board of trustees. The fund now provides a wide range of benefits for children of all ages including:

The early childhood and education centers provide children ages 2 to 5 with a rich environment of academic, cultural and recreational activities. These run from 7:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, 51 weeks a year. The cash vouchers provide direct financial assistance to parents to pay for child care and after-school programs. They may be used for either licensed or “informal” care. The cultural arts program serves children and teens interested in dance, music, art, theater, tutoring, SAT/PSAT preparation and physical education. This program is especially helpful for parents who must work every other weekend. In the Holiday Services program, the fund contracts with a number of organizations during the three weeks that schools are closed. These include YMCAs, religious groups, and other community based organizations. In addition to these daylong programs, the Child Care Fund runs a sleep away program during Spring and Winter breaks.

In 2006, the Fund provided program benefits to over 13,000 children. The joint fund serves as a model for the provision of quality and affordable child care and children’s programs.

Flexibility = Workers’ Control Over Work Time + Security

Control over Work Time is the ability to have control over work time allows workers to meet their responsibilities outside of work with less worry. Control over work time enables workers to have flexibility in the scheduling of full-time hours and the number of hours worked.

Flexicurity:

It is imperative that flexible working time arrangements offer opportunities to workers to work flexibly while safeguarding their needs for security (wage, benefits, job, etc.). A recent report of the European Trade Union Confederation uses the term “flexicurity” (flexibility + security) as an important marker of a balanced and worker-friendly flexible working time arrangement.i

Life Course Approach:

Flexible working time arrangements need to incorporate a life course approach so as to address the diversity of working time needs over a person’s lifetime. A life course approach can help workers address unforeseen and ongoing personal and family needs, and attain career flexibility with multiple points for entry, exit and re-entry into the workforce.

Flexible work arrangements allow workers flexibility in:

scheduling of work hours (alternative work schedules and arrangements regarding shifts and break schedules)

amount of hours worked (part-time work with benefits and job shares)

the place of work (working at home or at a satellite location)

The following are examples of different kinds of flexible work arrangements that have been negotiated by unions:

1. Alternative Work Schedules: Any schedule that is different from the standard schedule of the workplace.

The Harvard union contract, an AFSCME local, focuses on work redesign and creating a workplace where workers resolve conflict but also build community. The Union and the University have agreed to “build a framework for greater employee participation”.
The union has developed a process whereby most issues related to leave and flexibility can be addressed and resolved between supervisor and employee, and if not, then by local and regional problem solving teams. Principles of this process include: workplace problems are best solved at the local level; consensus building is the most effective approach to problem solving; individuals involved in this process should be trained; the process is intended to be flexible and encourage employees to seek resolution.

With 1000 problem-solving cases each year, generally only one is settled by a mediator. About one-half of these cases usually involve flexibility in scheduling. The forum for local employee participation in workplace issues is the Joint Council (JC) at each school or administrative department. Larger policy issues are dealt with at the JC level. The JC is meant to promote communication and consensus building between managers and staff. Individual problems are handled through a Problem Resolution procedure.

2) Flexible Work Hours (Flextime): Flexible work hour agreements give workers more control over when their work day starts and ends. Workers are usually required to be at work during a core period of hours, usually the middle of the day or shift.

3) Compressed/Flexible Work Week: Compressed work schedules allow full-time workers to work all their hours in fewer than five days per week. Two common examples of this are schedules which allow workers to work four 10-hour days for an extra day off per week or eight 9-hour days and one 8-hour day for an extra day off every two weeks.

5) Incremental/Proportional Reductions: Employees can adjust their schedule so that they can work 90% of the full-time schedule for 90% of wages and 90% benefits, 80% of a full-time schedule for 80% of wages and 80% benefits, and so on.

6) Variable Part-Year Schedules: Employees can adjust their schedule at different times of the year to fit their and the organization’s needs. For example, an employee might work a reduced schedule during part of the year (i.e. summer) and a full-time schedule for the rest of the year.

7) Voluntary Furlough: Employees can voluntarily trade income for more time off and to design reduced work schedules on an annual basis, subject to management concurrence and the needs of business. Employees receive full benefits and service credit.

8) Shift Swap: A shift swap provision allows workers to voluntarily exchange shifts or workdays to accommodate family needs such as attending school events, medical appointments or caring for a sick family member.

9)Part-time with Benefits: Part-time work can give workers flexibility to take care of family
needs while still earning a paycheck. However, a part-time schedule may become unaffordable
if it does not come with health care and other benefits. Unions have bargained to provide part
time workers with benefits that other full-time workers enjoy.

10) Job-Sharing: Under a job-share agreement, two part-time workers share one full-time
position. The two workers divide the full-time salary between them according to hours worked. Benefits and seniority are often pro-rated according to hours worked, though unions have also bargained for both workers to receive full benefits and/or seniority.

11) Part-time Return to Work: After the birth or adoption of a new child, or gaining a foster
child, returning to work full-time can be a difficult challenge. Finding quality, full-time care can be both costly and difficult. Working part-time for a short period (often up to a year in many contracts) allows a worker to adjust to his/her new responsibilities.

12) Limits on Mandatory Overtime: For many workers, mandatory overtime creates
additional challenges. For example, many working parents do not have back-up arrangements for child care. Provisions in union contracts limiting overtime or making overtime voluntary, protect workers from this loss of power over their daily schedules.

13) Shorter Work Week: A shorter workweek provision involves working fewer hours for the same pay and benefits and is often used to cover unpopular shifts, like weekends. A shorter work week with less compensation has also been negotiated by unions as an alternative to lay-offs.

Other Reduced Time-Off Innovations include: Paid-Time-Off Banks: Employees can combine sick days, personal days, and holidays into one category of paid time-off days that can be used for any purpose employees wish as long as it is scheduled in advance. It is advisable not to include paid vacation days. , Unpaid Time Off with Loss of Pay Spread over the Year: Employees can take extra time off without pay, beyond paid vacation days, and have the lost pay spread across the whole year’s paychecks, and Flexible Time Off in Short Increments: Employees can take vacation or other paid time off on a highly flexible basis – in half-day, two-hour, and one-hour increments.

Leave

The other huge area of bargaining in the work/family arena is around family leave. During the course of one’s work life, workers may need to take time off to have a baby or care for a sick family member. Workers also need the flexibility to take time off work in short increments, such as a day, half-day or even just a few hours without using vacation time. Unions negotiate many forms of leave:

Maternity/Paternity Leave Most contracts contain language on maternity leave but the best contracts are more inclusive and have paternity leave. Fathers may receive less time but it allows them to spend time with the new baby or child. It is sometimes paid by the employer, or a combination of accrued sick and vacation days with the right to return to one’s job.

Some contracts include adoption under parental leave, allowing parents to spend time away from work bonding with a new child. However, the adoption process is very lengthy and time consuming. Allowing adoptive parents paid time off for the legal process helps offset some of the many costs of adoption.

Emergency Leave or Short-term Leave Workers need the flexibility to take time off work in short increments for personal and/or family reasons. Being able to take a day, half day or just a few hours allows workers to attend school events, accompany a family member to routine medical appointments and to take care of his/her own personal needs.

Many unions negotiate for Paid Time Off (PTO).
PTO generally combines sick and personal leave time and is separate from other vacation time workers may have. It can be used for any personal reason, such as caring for a sick child or recuperating from one’s own illness.

Other types of leave negotiated include: Donated Leave, Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence, Stress Leave, Mentoring or School-Related Leave – paid time off to participate in school activities including mentoring or volunteering.

Sick Time for Family Members – the ability to use your own sick time to care for a family member. It is often beneficial for unions to negotiate a broad definition of family: mother, father, husband, wife, domestic partner, foster children, child, stepchild, sister, brother, foster parents, grandparents, mother in law, father in law, sister in law, daughter in law, brother in law, son in law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew.

Unions have also negotiated to improve on the Family and Medical Leave Act (Shorter Eligibility Period, Expanding the Reasons for Taking Leave, Expanded Definition of “Family” or Coverage to entire bargaining unit.

Conclusion

In many ways, today's labor unions do indeed speak for America's working families. At the bargaining table and through legislation, unions are and have historically been a voice demanding affordable, quality care for children and promoting a balance between work and family. This track record of advocating for work/family needs reflects not only individual labor unions' commitment to their members, but also the commitment of the labor movement as a whole to a broad social agenda aimed at improving the lives of all working people.

Unions that have made a commitment to advance the work/ family agenda have been successful in negotiating innovative family-friendly benefits. (See Appendix) Union involvement in coalition and policy work has also helped to push legislative changes at the local, state and national levels.

In America, with all of our wealth and pronouncements of family values we trail behind our international colleagues in our support of working families. Let’s be honest: the typical workplace is not a family-friendly environment. As the economy flourishes, men and women are being asked to work longer hours, resulting in an imbalance of work and family life. And Americans experience the burden of this request in family dysfunction, poor student achievement, higher divorce rates and countless other public ills. The outstanding achievements of joint Employer/Unions initiatives lead the struggle to reshape the workplace and to show that work-family issues are critical not just for union members but for all American families.

Appendix: Union Bargaining Strategies for Family Friendly Provisions

Finding high-quality, reliable, affordable care can be very difficult for working parents. Resource and referral services can help match employees with appropriate and available child care providers, taking into consideration the special needs of each family. An employer may contract with an outside agency or handle referrals in-house. Resource and referral services also can help develop child care resources in an area if no appropriate child care exists.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and Pacific Gas & Electric.

Tax Programs

Tax Programs: A dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP) or Flexible Spending Account allows workers to set aside up to $5,000 of their earnings in a tax-free account to pay for child care or elder care. The only cost to the employer for this IRS plan is its administration.

Unions have negotiated for on-site and off-site child care centers, subsidized slots in existing centers, and networks of family day care homes. Setting up a child care center is a costly and time-consuming process. Before negotiating for a child care center, be sure to consider the needs of your members: Do they prefer in-home or center care? Are they willing to drive to an off-site center? What shifts do they work? Are their children preschool age?

International Association of Machinists District Lodge 751 and Boeing.

Back-Up &
Sick Child Care

Backup care can be provided for mildly sick children, on days when normal care arrangements fall through or in other unusual situations such as snow days. Parents of school-age children may need child care during summer vacations and on holidays. Backup care can be provided through a special program, such as employer subsidies for in-home care or a backup center, or by allowing parents to use their sick time to care for sick children.

Finding high-quality, reliable, affordable care can be very difficult for working people. Resource and referral services can help match employees with appropriate and available care providers, taking into consideration the special needs of each family. Employers either contract with an outside referral agency or handle referrals in-house.

United Auto Workers and General Motors Corporation

Tax Programs

Tax Programs: A dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP) or Flexible Spending Account allows workers to set aside up to $5,000 of their earnings in a tax-free account to pay for child care or elder care. The only cost to the employer for this IRS plan is its administration.

Some unions directly provide or work with employers to provide information and support as a way of addressing members’ elder care needs. This strategy can help working people with elder care responsibilities to make decisions about elder care strategies and reduce personal stress. Such services include: counseling, referral services, seminars, support groups, handbooks and videos, work and family committees, etc

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Long Term Care

Long term care can be provided directly, either through the union or by the employer.

United Auto Workers and Michigan Blue Cross-Blue Shield

Sick Time for Sick Family Members

Unions have negotiated to allow workers to use their own sick time to care for sick family members.

Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers and Harvard University

III. Family Leave – Bargaining Strategies

The Strategy

About the Strategy

Model Contract Examples

Family Leave

Family leave gives an employee the right to take time off from work to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, to care for a family member who is seriously ill or sometimes for other personal reasons.

United Steelworkers of America Local 12075 and Dow Chemical.

Parental Leave

Parental leave is taken by mothers and fathers to care for newborn, newly adopted or foster care children. It is very effective in reducing turnover, training costs and absenteeism. Five states provide temporary disability leave for women for pregnancy or child- birth. Some contracts also contain provisions offering this benefit. Temporary disability leave often is used in combination with parental leave. The best parental leave language provides for paid leave, but many contracts offer unpaid leave as well.

American Federation of Musicians Local 6 and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Part-Time
Return to Work

Many new parents want to work part-time after children are born or adopted. Unions have bargained for part- time return to work for new parents.

No. Calif. Newspaper Guild Local 52 and San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner.

Short-Term Leave

Working families often need short periods of time off from work, such as a half day or a few hours. Unions have bargained contracts allowing time off for various personal reasons, including school-related activities and adoption proceedings.

Service Employees International Union Local 790 and the San Francisco Unified School District.

Donated Leave
& Leave Banks

Some union contracts allow employees to donate their own leave directly to a leave bank or to another employee who has used all of her own leave. Leave of this sort may be reserved for workers having serious family or personal crises.

New York State Nurses Association and St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center.

Expanded
Definition of “Family”

The traditional idea of "family" as composed of a mother, father and children does not describe many of today's working families. The definition of family in leave clauses is being broadened to include many different kinds of relationships.

Public Employees, Local One, and the Unified School District of Berkeley.

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO generally combines sick and personal leave time and is separate from other vacation time employees may have. It can be used for any personal reason, such as caring for a sick child or recuperating from one's own illness.

Unions have negotiated to allow workers to use their own sick time to care for sick family members.

United Auto Workers Local 2324 and United Front Child Development Programs.

Leave for
Special Causes

Sometimes working people need leave to deal with particular family-related issues. Unions have bargained for leave to be taken in special situations, such as for families suffering from domestic violence.

American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Service Employees Union and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

IV. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) – Bargaining Strategies

The Strategy

About the Strategy

Model Contract Examples

Making FMLA Leave Paid

Many working families cannot afford to take needed time off without pay. Receiving pay while on FMLA leave can make it possible to use rights given under the law.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 11 and the State of Ohio.

Building FMLA Language

If an employer violates FMLA law in some way, the only recourse is to file a complaint with the Department of Labor or to hire a lawyer. Both strategies can be very time-consuming. If the employer agrees in a union contract to abide by the FMLA, violations can be settled through the union's grievance procedure.

Not all employers are required to abide by the FMLA. For example, employers with fewer than 50 employees need not provide FMLA benefits. Contracts can assure the right to FMLA benefits for all members, regardless of whether or not the members or the employer meet eligibility guidelines of the FMLA.

Service Employees International Union Local 535 and the Labor Project for Working Families

Expanding Reasons for FMLA

FMLA leave can be taken only for an employee's own serious illness; for the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child; or to care for a seriously ill spouse, parent or child. By defining family in a contract as including, for example, grandparents, domestic partners and in-laws, unions expand the instances in which an employee can take FMLA leave.

Public Employees Local One and the Unified School District of Berkeley

Increasing Length of Leave

In some cases, 12 weeks is not enough time to deal with some family or medical situations. The length of FMLA leave can be increased through bargaining.

United Auto Workers Local 2324 and United Front Child Development Programs.

Limiting Employer’s Rights

Bargain to limit your employer's right to designate what kind of paid leave will be used for FMLA.

Service Employees International Union Local 1877 and Apcoa Inc.

Continuing Benefits During Leave

Under the FMLA, employers must continue to provide health benefits on the same basis as before the leave, but they are not obligated to provide any other benefits or to help an employee who becomes unable to afford to pay his or her share of health insurance premiums.

United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Company.

Accruing Seniority During Leave

Under the FMLA, seniority accrues during leave only for the purposes of vesting and eligibility in pension and retirement funds. Unions can bargain for accrual of seniority for other purposes as well, such as for vacation time or scheduling.

Intermittent leave is allowed under the FMLA only for a serious health condition of the employee, or employee’s spouse, child or parent. Unions can expand this provision to allow new parents to work reduced or intermittent schedules.

American Federation of Teachers Local 3695 and the University of Connecticut.

V. Alternative Work Schedules – Bargaining Strategies

The Strategy

About the Strategy

Model Contract Examples

Flextime

Flextime agreements allow employees to start and end work during some range of hours. All employees may be required to be present during a core period.

Communications Workers of America and BellSouth Telecommunications.

Part-Time Work with Benefits

Part-time work can give people flexibility to take care of family needs. However, a part-time schedule may be unworkable if it does not come with health care and other benefits. Unions have bargained to provide part-time employees with benefits.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and Pacific Gas & Electric.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting means working from a site other than the central work site, usually at home. Unions have traditionally opposed this because work done at home is difficult to regulate and can easily become "sweatshop" labor. Also, workers who telecommute can become isolated and are difficult to organize. However, telecommuting can offer workers a great deal of flexibility and many union members favor it.

Service Employees International Union Local 660 and Los Angeles County.

Job Sharing

Under a job-share agreement, two part-time employees share one full-time job. The employees divide the full-time salary according to hours worked. Benefits and seniority often are prorated according to hours worked, although in some job-share situations both may receive full benefits and/or seniority. Union contracts can protect employees’ right to enter into a job-share arrangement and can establish standards for job sharing.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2505 and Executive Department of the State of Oregon.

Compressed Work Week

Compressed work schedules allow full-time workers to work all their hours in fewer than five days per week. Common examples of these schedules allow workers to work four 10-hour days for an extra day off per week, or eight 9-hour days and one 8-hour day for an extra day off every 2 weeks.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 830 and Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company.

Making Overtime Voluntary

For many working families, being forced to stay at work past the regularly scheduled end time can be very stressful, particularly for working parents who do not have backup arrangements for child care. Provisions in union contracts making overtime voluntary protect employees from this loss of power over their daily schedules.

Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Local 35 and Bureau of National Affairs.

Shift Swamps

A shift swap provision in a union contract allows workers to exchange shifts or workdays voluntarily to accommodate family needs, such as attending school events or medical appointments.

Voluntary reduced time allows an employee to reduce the number of hours she or he works in a week in order to have extra time to take care of personal or family needs.

Service Employees International Union Local 715 and Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, California.

Footnotes

1 For actual contract language from these and other “best practices” contracts, contact the Labor Project for Working Families, 2521 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 510-643-0788 or view the Labor Project’s Webpage at www.working-families.org.

2 For actual contract language from these and other “best practices” contracts, contact the Labor Project for Working Families, 2521 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, 510-643-0788 or view the Labor Project’s Webpage at www.working-families.org

i Pilinger J. (Ed.). (2006). Report of the European Trade Union Confederation conference: Challenging times -Innovative ways of organizing working time: The role of unions. Brussels: ETUC.